Do you believe in ghost stories?

Rebecca Curtis's story in the current New Yorker, The Pink House, seems as if it might be part of a group of stories, Decameron style: six artists, none greatly successful of famous, are at a Mexican estate on a fellowship; they sit around at night telling one another stories - and The Pink House, told by a middle-aged female narrator unnamed I think who rises to the challenge of telling a "true" ghost story, may be just one of a set. Cool idea, but how does it stand up on its own? OK, depending on your tolerance for this type of story. For me, the "ghost" part was kind of over-determined and manipulative; the "real" part had more potential. In brief, story is: woman looks back on her early years as struggling writer in NYC, leaves for a fellowship at Syracuse and rents sight unseen a cheap room in a crappy house in a crappy neighborhood. Becomes a couple with the star writer in the program, even though she's not attracted to him; they stay together for many years as he struggles with his novel and she finds increasing success, largely thanks to his tutelage. She gets a teaching job in Nebraska and he follows her there; their relationship breaks apart and she moves on with her life; later, comes to realize - when she sees that he has married a much-older woman from their neighborhood - that his spirit has been taken over by a ghost that has led him to this Nebraska neighborhood to marry the widow the ghost had left behind. Well, in fiction anything's possible, but Curtis does nothing really to make us believe in this rather incredible chain of events. What she does well, though, is build the character of the struggling young writer, particularly in relation to her parents, who don't understand her at all but are kind enough to help her move to Syracuse - that's by far the best scene in the story and, though it's pretty familiar ground for young writers, has potential for a lot more development I think. From her various actions, tastes, and choices - in particular, her sexual drive toward strong black men - the narrator is obviously trying to move as far from her parents' conservative milieu as she can; that's true of many young people, perhaps artists in particular - and there's a lot of material there that Curtis may work with further.